Peace Corps Volunteers work in a myriad of activities around the world within the general areas of education, business, environment, health, and agriculture. Volunteers typically must adapt their activities and approaches to their assignments in response to the specific circumstances and needs that exist. Volunteers serving as teachers, for example, often incorporate health, business, or environmental education messages in their lessons, and many Volunteers have assisted in curriculum revisions to institutionalize such practices.

Despite the differences in their work assignments, all Volunteers serve a similar role in contributing to their host communities' development and understanding of the American people. They may also provide more direct opportunities for their communities to learn about the United States by facilitating cross-cultural links through the World Wise Schools program or other partnership programs.

The Government of The People's Republic of China has asked the Peace Corps to provide educational assistance in the form of training English language teachers. China is also experiencing a growing interest in addressing environmental protection issues. The country plans to increase the number of nature reserves by 50 percent over the next several years. As a way to promote environmental education and awareness in China, Peace Corps Volunteers have begun to introduce environmental content-based curricula into their English classes. In light of the historical lack of interaction between Americans and people in China, the Peace Corps also places a particularly high value on the cross-cultural exchange that the program fosters.

The Peace Corps office in China is located in Sichuan Province, the second most populous province in China with nearly 90 million people. Currently, the Peace Corps program works in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Chongqing Municipality. Peace Corps Volunteers are working at teacher training colleges and universities in southwest China. Their primary goal is to teach English to students who expect to become middle school English teachers in the more remote areas of southwest China. Volunteers are integrating environment-related issues and information into their English classes to increase environmental awareness, stimulate critical thinking, and enhance problem solving skills. In addition to teaching, Volunteers work closely with their Chinese colleagues to exchange ideas and methodologies. Daily contact with native English speakers helps Chinese teachers become more proficient in English and more confident in their ability to use English in the classroom.

Volunteers recently co-hosted a four-day workshop with provincial educational officials to integrate environmental protection themes into the core English Language Curriculum used at teacher training colleges. The training was held at Wolong Nature Reserve, a critical habitat for the endangered Giant Panda.

We invite you to take a closer look at the Peace Corps for more information about how you can volunteer.

Dr. Peter J. Foley Country Director PFoley@cn.peacecorp.gov

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Agreement Reached During Presidential Visit

Beijing, China, June 29, 1998 -- The United States and China signed an agreement establishing a formal framework for the Peace Corps program in China. President Clinton, in China for a state visit, applauded this development.

"This agreement represents an important step forward in building the bonds of friendship between the American and Chinese people. As in the other 80 countries where they work, Peace Corps Volunteers in China reflect the finest traditions of Americans' idealism and pragmatic approach to assisting others," Clinton said.

Peace Corps Director Mark D. Gearan, in China as a part of the Official Presidential Delegation, said that Volunteers' work in China is particularly significant. "At the dawn of the new century, it is critically important that people-to-people relations, such as those promoted by Peace Corps Volunteers, receive the same attention that has traditionally been devoted to government-to-government relations," Gearan said.

Americans' interest in the Peace Corps remains strong, with inquiries from prospective Volunteers increasing more than 10 percent over the past year. President Clinton has proposed expanding the Peace Corps to 10,000 Volunteers by the year 2000. The proposed increase in the agency's funding would be the largest increase since the 1960s.

About 6,500 Peace corps Volunteers are currently at work in 81 countries, helping to fight hunger, bringing clean water to communities, expanding opportunities through education, protecting the environment, encouraging small business development, and preventing the spread of AIDS. More than 150,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

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